elf from thinking there was somewhat in the
behaviour of Natura, in his last visit, that denoted a regard beyond
an ordinary friendship for her.--This apprehension, at first, a little
startled her, or at least she imagined it did so, and she said to
herself, 'If he should really harbour any inclinations for me of that
sort, how unhappy should I be in being obliged to break off my
acquaintance with a person so every way agreeable to me; and to
continue it, would be to countenance a passion I have determined never
to give the least attention to.'--'Yet wherefore did I determine?'
pursued she, with a sigh, 'but because I found the generality of men
mere wandering, vague, inconstant creatures;--were guided only by
fancy;--never consulted their judgment, whether the object they
pretended to admire, had any real merit or not, and often too treated
those worst who had the best claim to their esteem;--besides, one
seldom finds a man whose person and qualifications are every way
suited to one's liking:--Natura is certainly such as I should wish a
husband to be, if I were inclined to marry again;--I have not taken a
vow of celibacy, and have nobody to controul my actions':--'then,'
said she again, 'what foolish imaginations comes into my head; perhaps
he has not the least thought of me in the way I am dreaming of;--no,
no, he has suffered too much by the imprudence of one woman, to put it
in the power of another to treat him in the same manner;--be trembles
at marriage;--I have heard him declare it, and I am deviating into a
vanity I never before was guilty of.'

She was debating in this fashion within herself, when Natura came to
pay his morning visit: she blushed at his approach, conscious of the
meditations she had been in on his account.--He, full of the
sentiments I have described, saluted her with an air more grave and
timid than he had been accustomed, and which all who are judges of the
tender passion, know to be the surest symptom of it.--They sat down,
and on his beginning to renew some discourse concerning the
counsellor's pretensions, she desired him to forbear so disagreeable a
topic, telling him at the same time, he could say nothing else she
would not listen to with satisfaction.--'How, madam,' cried he, 'are
you sure of that?--Alas, you little know what passes in my heart, or
you would not permit me this toleration.' This might have been
sufficient to make some women convinced of the truth; but Charlotte
either f